Pages

Friday, March 7, 2014

Oh my god!! I LOVE Brent Weeks!! Ok first I love him for his book The Way of Shadows that I just read. But then reading his acknowledgment and interview in the back I love the man himself!! ;) The book was amazing and the author sounds hilariously awesome and thanks “quirky” people like me who actually read the acknowledgments when they don't even know the author! haha! I realized I read them to see if I can find out what the author’s like. And you often can’t coz they just list people to thank, but with Weeks’ it was funny and endearing and open! And then add to that to his awesome post/article he wrote about George R.R. Martin choosing not to be accountable to fans, and I think this man is awesome!! :D

But now more about the book’s awesomeness. sigh. Damn! Thankfully I had time this week coz I just read the 2nd half of the book in the last 8h straight!! To say it's a page-turner is the understatement of the year!!! I’ve been reading awesome fantasy books my whole life and stayed up late to read them tons as a kid, but as an adult with responsibilities and obligations I rarely (sadly) ever have time to let myself get sucked in like that!! But holy shit did I with this book!!

The world he created from the city of Cenaria to the continent with its different cultures was amazing! Although I gotta admit at the beginning of the book I felt the world of the continent seemed a bit simplistic and not lush enough to be believable but that impression sure changed with the rest of the book! And the other hesitation in my love at the beginning was the lack of female characters. ie. just a street kid for our hero to take care of, an ex-whore, daughters, and wives. Nothing atypical. It changed somewhat with the introduction of Viridiana, and Kaldrosa totally eased my worry. A bold female thrown in, in a role that didn’t dictate it had to be female. THAT my friends is what marks a great gender-neutral writer!! That’s one of the many things I love about Steven Erikson, random characters in all sorts of roles are women.

What else to say beyond that the fact that it’s awesome storytelling!!! TRULY FUCKING AWESOME!! Again makes me bemoan the popularity of Tolkien and Martin when it comes to adult fantasy, when there’s soooo much better out there!!! And I love that the book had an “extras” section like DVD’s do with interviews!! When you love a book (or movie or show), you’re dying to find out more about it and its creators! So happy books are starting to do that too!! And I like what Weeks said in his response to the comment the trilogy has a really dark and gritty feel... he mentioned how can you have hope and redemption (and heroics I’d say) mean anything when they don’t come from darkness and weakness? I wholeheartedly agree!! And agree that the books have hope and redemption! I think that’s what Martin has to learn as a storyteller, tell us how shitty it is, how weak and selfish people are, but show that they have moral debates, and goddamn sometimes people do rise above the shit!!! Or at least it makes for more captivating reading if they do! I think coz it inspires hope in us as readers? That we could too? Martin squashes all hope. All hope of good characters surviving, all hope of any redemption for any of the medium to bad characters, etc. God I hate how much I’m comparing to Martin but I just finished season 3 of Game of Thrones and am reminded of all that I hated about the books.

Also just an isolated comment... (SPOILER ALERT!!) .... when Durzo tells Kylar that he scarred Doll Girl’s face... oh my god I felt punched in the stomach!! Just as Kylar must’ve. :/ And I was so upset Durzo’s letter to Kylar was ruined by blood!!! ARRRRGGHHH!! haha! And I love the cover designs!!! Sooooo gorgeous!!!

Unrelated... but in the last few years I’ve been so happy to find new amazing fantasy authors, Weeks, Erikson, Patrick Rothfuss, but realize it’s time to find some great female ones!! There’s always such a different feel to a book by a female author. I find I tend to relate more and get involved more. No guarantees but I’m eager to find some new greats! :)